end of the week random links…

some random notes:

–cuntastic blog linked to this awesome looking childbirth education class in florida.  has me dreaming about creating a radical childbirth education course.

The POWERful classes are innovative and off the beaten path of standard childbirth classes because they serve a dual purpose. The first is to share information with women about their pregnancy, birth and postpartum so that they can make informed and empowered decisions about their health and the health of their baby. The second purpose is to introduce women to social justice organizing so that they can impact positive change as leaders in their communities.

The classes, which were also offered last year at Power U, will cover topics ranging from birthing options, nutrition and breastfeeding to reducing toxic housing conditions, improving neighborhood schools and negotiating fair rent prices.

“I feel more respected in these classes,” stated one class participant, who is also a teen mom.

–this weekend i am doing the printable pdf for outlaw midwives zine.  pulling out my geometry brain…any help in this arena would be much appreciated…

–aza insists on being called: princess mafina or amira mafina.  but not aza.  definitely not aza.

–midwife pamela on fb linked to this article:

Don’t Judge Pregnant Women Based on Junk Science

This is especially true when it comes to pregnant drug using women. For nearly two decades popular media claimed that any illegal drugs used by pregnant women would inevitably and significantly damage their babies.

The actual scientific research contradicts this assumption. Carefully constructed, unbiased scientific research has not found that prenatal exposure to any of the illegal drugs causes unique or even inevitable harm. This research is so clear that that courts and leading federal agencies have concluded that what most people heard was “essentially a myth.” As the National Institute for Drug Abuse explains, “babies born to mothers who used crack cocaine while pregnant, were at one time written off by many as a lost generation. . . .  It was later found that this was a gross exaggeration.”

–some of these notes may develop into blog post.  or maybe not.

–i am basically nanowrimo-ing a memoir and then after a couple of weeks seeing if it is worth working on.  i had just figured that i didnt have the emotional energy to do it.  but i hate having something sitting there undone staring at me.  me, unsure if it works or it doesnt.  so i am writing my ass off and then when i am done, i can see what the next step would be.

anyways the writing reminded me of living in the woods reading the peace pilgrim.  and how reading her little book really did act as a guide for how to live in this world as a free person no matter what.

–oh there are a couple of awesome posts on checking dilation during labor without a vaginal exam.  lovely.

this one…

and this one…

–i will write soon about the viva palestina september/october convoy to deliver aid to gaza.  but here is the link to it for now…

–while the more that i learn about the placenta, the more amazed i am by it, i am not sure if i could knowingly eat placenta lasagna.

–aza is running around with a can of tuna.  habibi is cooking potatoes.  it is july in cairo and the heat swims in the air like a prayer.  i can drink smoothies all day.  mornings are chaos here.

to do

to do list:

rescan the outlaw midwives zine in a lower dpi

finish the aza zine

work on memoir

finish call for submissions

make stencils and upload design onto google docs for thaura zine distro

laugh

write poems

drink water

clean office

learn more about the placenta

never forget who i am

stay curious

1. last night was a beautiful night.  more and more i find myself simply being myself in all of my social awkwardness, radical politics, temple goddess, dorky smile, bad mama, bra-less with flip flops, bookworm, philosophical debate loving self.

i had thought i would have time to paint: stay curious on my office wall before the party.  but people arrived on time!  what?  not everyone thinks that when i say ‘around nine’ i kinda mean ‘around eleven’?  ah.  start the grill and hand out drinks.

2.

we started talking about fusion music arabic meets jazz.  so i put on miles davis sketches of spain.  aza starts to dance in the middle of the room this amazing improvisation.  she was completely into the music and the dance and the audience.  starting with her eyes and then radiating through out her body.  she was the embodiment of longing and reminiscence.

aza brought me roses this evening

stupid people like that

so a couple of nights ago, a friend, aka soldier boy, an egyptian, and i were deciding where to go out for the night.  i suggested hitting this club, africana, that i have been to and he hadnt.  he didnt seem very keen on the idea.  and really wanted to go to this villa party where his ‘friends’ would be.

but, since the villa party was expensive, he said okay to africana.

me: oh. fyi.  im taking habibi’s phone rather than mine.so call me on his number.

soldier boy: why arent you taking your phone?

me:  its a really nice phone, and i dont want anything to happen to it.  habibi’s phone is a lot cheaper.  (this is true.  my phone has internet connection and video, while habibi’s is basic.)

soldier boy: oh, is this the kind of place w/ stupid people like that.  (i cant record the contemptuous tone of his voice.  or the snarl. just imagine)

me: what?  ok.  i’ll talk to you later. yeah….

i hang up.  the convo having been a major buzz kill.  pre-game to relax.  turn on youtube and dance around to 90s hip hop vidoes.  finally get downtown to meet soldier boy.

voces against violence

noemi of hermana resist has put together a beautiful e-zine that i am honored to be a part of called: voces against violence #3.

–a zine diy style, with work from poc, queer folk, survivors, healers.  a text intended to be used as a community resources in dealing with multi-faceted violence and trauma.

please check it out.  and may it evoke conversations that need to happen w/ yourself and your communities.

in love.

a bad mother goes to gaza

thinking of going to gaza.  srsly.  the calling to go is getting stronger and stronger.  and now that aza is three years old (omg she is three!) some switch has clicked in my head where i feel able and responsible to leave her for longer periods of time.

i have been following the free gaza movement for the past couple of years.  doing some media work for the project and support for our friend theresa in scotland who has done amazing work for free gaza.  she was on the boat that first broke the israeli blockade and landed safely in gaza in 2008.  a truly incredible story of solidarity.  i have watched this free gaza movement and feel that they have done some of the best work i have seen on radical solidarity.  making honest relationships with people w/in gaza.  and challenging the israeli military.

right now they are organizing a flotilla to break the blockade.

On May 24, 2010, the Freedom Flotilla sets sail for Gaza determined to, once again, challenge Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in an open-air prison. Under the coordination of the Free Gaza Movement, numerous human rights organizations, including the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH), the Perdana Global Peace Organization from Malaysia, the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, and the Swedish and Greek Boat to Gaza initiatives will send three cargo ships loaded with reconstruction, medical and educational supplies. At least five passenger boats with over 600 people on board will accompany the cargo ships.These passengers include members of Parliament from around the world, U.N., human rights and trade union activists, as well as journalists who will document the largest coordinated effort to directly confront Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza and take in basic supplies.

our sister’s tattoo

dear friends and familia,

we are raising 250 dollars to support our sister, aaminah, who, a few weeks ago, lost her best friend, ex-husband, son’s father, and compañero.

i love aaminah and eric’s story. it is a story that we dont often get to hear. a story of discovering who you are piece by piece and learning to reclaim your heritage in the face of a world that tells you to ignore who and where you come from.
when aaminah said she wanted to get a tattoo to memoralize eric, i knew that i wanted to help her get this tattoo. but she can’t afford it on her own. and i can’t afford it on my own. and so i am asking all of you to donate what you can for this ink and flesh memorial.
sometimes, life is really complicated. death is complicated. but a tattoo close to aaminah’s heart of her fallen companero is really simple.

please donate as much as you can. may we as a community hold her and her family in our hearts.

visit our sister’s tattoo and make a pay pal donation

in memory of him and in love for aaminah we are fundraising for her to get a tattoo in honor of his life. so that she can hold him close to her heart, always.

this is her sketch of the tattoo.

a dreamcatcher with a feather – signifying our shared Blackfeet/Blood heritage – surrounded by his name, which is in turn surrounded by the transliteration of the Arabic for “To Allah we belong and to Allah we return”, which is what we Muslims say in times of hardship, especially death.

on living in a police state

(picture of collage of a tree and flowers and chains. it reads: border home lands)

so arizona decided to become a police state.  i have to minds about this.

on the one hand.  this is so fucked.  and if you are reading this blog im sure you dont need me to run down the list of reasons that this is so so so fucked.

on the other hand.  im kinda like–meh.  i mean, a police state is fucked.  dont get me wrong.  its just not unusual or abnormal.  ten years ago when i was living in nyc there was a law (maybe it still exists?) that you had to have your id on you at all times.  and the police could ask for your id at any given time.  and you would be charged if you didnt produce it.

and a couple of years ago in dc, the police roped off an entire section of the city, and created summer checkpoints and the law was  that if you didnt have proof that you lived there, or had a good reason for being there, you would be turned away.

and of course palestinians inside of israel as well as in the west bank and gaza have lived under a police state for decades.

oh yeah, and so do we, here in egypt.

some thoughts on self induced abortions

on menstrual extraction:
its kind of funny but it never occurred to me to get training. i figure i will build one myself. and start with testing the del-em on papaya until i get the feel for it. and then have someone -probably habibi who will help me build it- take out my period-unfertilized-so that i can see what it feels like. and then extract another woman’s period. and after that a couple of times. then do a fertilized uterus.. the first women who created the machines didnt have much to any training what so ever. and they taught the process in a few hours in workshops. on top of that i a reading lots and lots of personal accounts fro women who have undergone the procedure and those who have performed it. also i read/devoured the zine- jane- a few years ago and am going to re read it. i know women’s biology. ive had a miscarriage at 10 weeks pregnant and have assisted women post abortion. so i know a lot of what to look out for.
but i think that is just my way: im like a mad scientist. i always do the experiment on myself first. i dont like giving something to others that i havent tried.